We are often told “no risk, no reward”, but perhaps risk is the wrong word.
Risk can have a negative connotation – one that suggests caution. It asks you to disregard instinct and ignore those tingly feelings that usually tell you to wait or redirect. There is something to be said about pushing beyond those feelings, getting out of your comfort zone, and pursuing what you normally wouldn’t, but I suggest boldness as an alternative to risk. Boldness pushes the boundaries. It can help us to reach our dreams. Boldness gets rewarded.
You’ll learn, as you get older, that rules are meant to be broken.
Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look. Dance as though EVERYBODY is watching. March to the beat of your own drum. And stubbornly refuse to fit in. This is the epitome of boldness. Boldness need not be risky or hasty. It can be calculated and well thought out. However, boldness is unwavering and unapologetic.
Mandy Hale asks us “What would your life look like if you were BOLDER? Just imagine that you decided to be ten percent bolder in your goals; bolder in your self-view; bolder in your actions… What would your results look like? Most of the things we really want in life are just outside of our comfort zone and, in many cases, just one bold step away”.
Boldness requires that you step beyond the fears and the timidity that have held you in place for far too long.
Once you take those steps, and you see the fruit of those decisions, and you will wonder why you didn’t take those steps sooner. Think about all that you have dreamed of. The things that you wondered if they were possible. The things of your wildest imagination. That’s what you should be pursuing.
Why pursue the things that you only kind of want? Go for what you really want and be bold in your actions. These things will require commitment and fervor, but as Henry David Thoreau reminds us “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours”.
But making your dreams come true, requires you to “take the lid off”.
Big goals, little goals, great achievements – from little stuff you can accomplish in the short term to your most outrageous, audacious dreams, ambitions and desires – write it all down now. With abandon, tap the depths of your inner self, bring your deepest desires to the surface and fear not about writing them down. The first part of this process is getting what you want on your radar. Write it all down so you can see it, and then sort through it, and then zero in on making the decisions that will launch you on your way.
You’ve got to be able to think it. You have to have the thought enter your mind. You have to conceive it. If we never take the time to pause and ask ourselves “How can I see this bigger”, our biggest dreams will never come to fruition. The inspirational download of thoughts and dreams asks us to dream even bigger.
According to W. Clement Stone “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” And conversely if you can’t conceive it (at least envision it in your mind’s eye) you can’t believe it or achieve it. If you can’t think it, what are the chances that you will ever achieve it? The answer is slim to none. You have to think it first, and then your thoughts become actions.
Get it on your radar.
Goethe teaches us that “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it”. Regardless of what you believe, you also have to do it. You have to put your thoughts and dreams into action. Your big, bold dreams deserve big, bold actions. This is when you will feel most in line with what you truly want. This is when you will feel most inspired. And this is when you will accomplish your greatest and most rewarding achievements. So, don’t be risky, but be bold and your gigantic dreams will begin to fall in place right in front of your eyes.
